The truth and reconciliation concept, used extensively in Africa and Latin America, has developed into an effective global strategy for dealing with war crimes and other human rights abuses.

The approach is one of "restorative justice," which differs from the customary adversarial and retributive justice. The truth and reconciliation process seeks to heal relations between opposing sides by uncovering all pertinent facts, distinguishing truth from lies, and allowing for acknowledgement, appropriate public mourning, forgiveness and healing.

Although in most cases truth commissions are sponsored by governments, the focus often is on giving victims, witnesses and even perpetrators a chance to publicly tell their stories without fear of prosecution.

The first truth commission was formed in Uganda in 1974. The most famous is the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. More than thirty nations, including Peru, Ghana, East Timor and Sierra Leone, have utilized the truth commission model during the past three decades.

With an initial $4 million grant from the Ford Foundation, one of the chief architects of South Africa's truth commission founded the International Center for Transitional Justice in 2001 to advise other nations employing the process.

Truth and reconciliation promotes the belief that confronting and reckoning with the past is necessary for successful transitions from conflict, resentment and tension to peace and connectedness. In advising the first project of its kind in the United States, the ICTJ is helping Greensboro tailor the process - as all who use it must - to its unique circumstances, history and needs.

Advertisement from our web hosting partner and sponsor

At Carolina Digital Phone, we're well aware that you have plenty of choices when it comes to phone systems. Here's what makes us different:

Our flexible service plans allow you to grow your business by changing or upgrading your features at any time without penalties or fees, and our no-contract policy allows you to try our solutions risk free.

Never a contract or long-term commitment

Never a charge for Moves, Adds or Changes. You can do this yourself with our management interface or call us and we will do it for you.

You'll benefit from the features available from a large telecommunications organization and still enjoy the friendly and reliable support of a neighborhood business.

Our friendly and knowledgeable Level 2 North Carolina based support staff can be reached by telephone or email during normal business hours (8am-5pm ET). Whenever you need us, you'll speak to a real, live technician dedicated to addressing any issue that arises with your phone service as quickly as possible.

Pricing for Hosted Telephone services is only $15/per device per month. A typical hosted telephone customer will save as much and many times more than 50% over traditional telephone services. We keep our price low because we can use your current internet services provider to deliver high quality digital voice services to your office allowing you to take advantage of the high-speed bandwidth you are already paying for.

Call (336) 544-4000 for a personalized quote to replace your existing telephone system with a cloud-based hosted PBX and save as much as 60% over traditional telephone services.